Jacob Tipton
of Allegheny Township

Jacob and His Ancestors
by W. R. Tipton

Jacob Tipton was born 9 Oct 1820 in Allegheny Township, Somerset County, Pa., the eldest son of Noah and Elizabeth (Wagaman) Tipton. He married Lucinda Coughenour in 1844 and they went to housekeeping in "the house at the old place" (the Tipton family homestead in Allegheny Township). About 1850 they moved "down where the buildings now stand", along Shaffers Run south of Glen Savage. The 1876 Beers Atlas of Somerset County shows Jacob at this location, which is where the well and barn foundation in the photos below are located. Lucinda died in 1891 and Jacob spent his final years living with his daughter and son-in-law Annie and George Lafferty. Jacob died in 1903, having lived his entire life in Allegheny Township.

Jacob's father Noah Tipton was born in the year 1800, probably in Maryland. He married Elizabeth Wagaman in the year 1819, first living in Allegheny Township (probably on the old homestead), then residing for awhile in Bedford County, his farm being across the county line only a few miles from Glen Savage. Here they were neighbors of Elizabeth's parents, Philip and Mary (Greisher) Wagaman. In 1864, Noah and Elizabeth moved to Illinois, following daughters Jemima and Elizabeth and their families. Noah died there around 1870 and Elizabeth followed sometime after 1880.

Noah's father (Jacob's grandfather) was William Tipton. His full name could have been William Noah Tipton or Noah William Tipton; whether either of these is correct has yet to be determined. William first appears as head of a household in Allegheny Township in the 1810 U.S. Federal Census. He is in the 1814 list of (married) taxable inhabitants in Allegheny Township, and shows up again in that place in the 1820 Census. On the 1818 Whiteside Map of Somerset County, William's location is shown to be on the opposite side (west side) of Shaffer's Run from the place where Jacob would later live. His location on this map shows that the Tipton homestead ("the old place") must have been on the wooded hillside that is called Tipton's Woods by the present-day local residents. The tract of land at the center of Tipton woods remained in the Tipton family until it was sold recently (about 2000).

When and where William was born and died, and the name of his wife and parents, remain a mystery. Undoubtedly he came from Maryland, probably Anne Arundel County, where many Tiptons in the U.S. can trace their ancestry back to the infamous Jonathan Tipton II (1699-1779). DNA testing has proven that the descendants of William Tipton of Allegheny Township are related to Jonathan, although the connection is unknown.

In preparation of the 1947 Tipton family reunion, James M. Cook made some changes and additions to his uncle Noah Tipton's History of the Tipton Clan (above) for presentation to the gathering at the reunion. James was the only child of Rachel (Tipton) Cook, daughter of Jacob Tipton. Rachel died a few months after James was born, and James was raised by grandparents Jacob and Lucinda Tipton. Click on the thumbnails below to view individual pages of the History of the Tipton Family Tree. Below the thumbnail links are some comments about this document.

Below is a list of some comments and corrections for this document. Posting this list does not imply that all other content is accurate. Some info in this document can not be verified. In this list, the History of the Tipton Clan by Noah Tipton is abbreviated as H.T.C..
 
Page 1, first line: James names his great great grandfather Noah, and someone crossed out the first "great", thus the wording was reverted back to the original H.T.C. as it was written by James' uncle Noah.
 
Page 1, paragraph 2, line 3: Same as above.
 
Page 2, paragraph 1, line 7: "Ellen Carnerand, lived . . ." should be "Ellen Carner, and lived . . .". This error was copied from the original H.T.C., which was typed with a missing space between "Carner" and "and". Samuel Tipton's wife was Ellen Carner, not Ellen Carnerand.
 
Page 2, paragraph 6, line 1: Isaac Coughenour should be Joseph Coughenour (unless Joseph's full name was Joseph Isaac or Isaac Joseph, which is possible since Joseph named a son Isaac).
 
Page 2, paragraph 6, lines 3 & 4: The list of children of Samuel Coughenour has some confusing punctuation (copied from the original H.T.C.). The list of children, in order of birth, is... 1 Lucinda, 2 Isaac, 3 Daniel, 4 Louvina, 5 Samuel, 6 Elizabeth, 7 Sarah, 8 Mary Ware (Ware was her married name), and 9 Rachel Corley (Corley was her married name), Also Rachel probably had a twin sister Ann (this needs verification).
 
Page 2, paragraph 7, line 5: Daniel Shroyer's wife was Susan Sturtz, not Susan Boyer. There is some evidence that there was a Susan Boyer somehow related, but she was not Daniel's wife.
 
Page 2, last line: The Dutch Corners (Dutch Corner) is an interesting place name. It is an old name used for an area mostly contained in northern Bedford Township, Bedford County. The "Dutch" part of the name is no doubt from early German settlers. On the north and east, it is naturally cornered by mountains, thus the "Corner" part of the name.
 
Page 3, Under "Noting Great Grandfather Tipton's family:-": James Cook incorrectly read this list of children from his Uncle Noah's H.T.C.. Based on James' list of children, some people might think that there was a Jacob Tipton who's wife was named Charlotte. Not true. Here are the children when read correctly from Noah's H.T.C.: Nellie Tipton married George Frazier (who was not Solomon Burkhart's half brother). Charlotte Tipton married Jacob Burkhart, brother of Solomon Burkhart (Solomon was a prominent resident of Allegheny Twp. in the 1800s, thus the relational reference was understood by "old timers" in the early 1900s). Thomas Tipton married Catherine Burkhart, and Jonathan Tipton's wife's name is unknown.
 
Page 3, last paragraph: Unknown words are crossed out. Rachel Tipton was James Cook's mother, and James added to what was written about Rachel in the original H.T.C.. It appears as if someone began to write something over the typewritten words, then decided to cross them out.
 
Page 4, third line: With a hand notation, someone questioned the birth year for William Tipton. It is incorrect, and came from a typo in the original H.T.C.. William was born Sept. 4, 1853 and died Feb. 18, 1856 age 2 years, 5 months, and 14 days.
 

Following the Great World War (World War I), families were drawn together in a time of peace and prosperity to celebrate the safe return of family members who served in the war and survived, and to remember those who went away and didn't come home. There was a sense of family unity which swept the nation and many family reunions had their beginnings at this time. And so it was for the Tiptons of Somerset County. In 1921, the first annual reunion was held for the descendants of Jacob and Lucinda Tipton at the Mt. Olivet Lutheran Church (Shaffer Church) near Glen Savage in Allegheny Township, Somerset County, Pa.

Subsequent annual reunions were held at the Mt. Olivet Church with a few exceptions: the 3rd reunion was held in Hyndman, Bedford County, and the 8th reunion convened in the Landis Grove near Berlin, Somerset County. The last of this series of reunions with a surviving record was the 22nd annual reunion held in 1942. World War II may have caused the annual reunions to cease at that time.

History repeated itself, as the peace that followed the end of WWII spawned a resurgence of family reunions. Again the Tipton clan was drawn together and the custom of having an annual Tipton Reunion was resurrrected in 1947, this time for the descendants of John Wesley and Emma Jane (Reitz) Tipton (John was a son of Jacob and Lucinda Tipton). These reunions were held on the John Tipton farm (now the McQuade Farm) on Pine Valley Road in Allegheny Township. This author remembers attending his first Tipton Reunion at this place in the mid-1950s. In 1970, the annual reunion was moved to the Berlin Community Grove on Beulah Road north of Berlin, where they continue to be held every year, usually on the second Saturday in July.
 

Click on the thumbnails below to view individual pages of the records of the first 11 reunions, 1921 thru 1931.
 

   Clayton's father was a son of James C. Lafferty and Emma Jannette "Nettie" Tipton. Nettie was a daughter of Jacob and Lucinda Tipton.

   Leland L. Tipton and Ruth Cutchall were married 21 Jan 1947 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Ruth was born 12 Apr 1927 in Meeker, Oklahoma, and died 01 Sep 2001 in Berlin. Leland and Ruth had no children. Leland was the last "Tipton" descendant of Jacob and Lucinda Tipton known to be living in Somerset County, Pa.